Here, again, is the key verse:
The kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power
(1 Cor. 4:20).1
'Power' is a vital word in Paul's two letters to the
Corinthians:
Christ did not send me to baptise but to preach the gospel,
and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of
Christ be emptied of its power... We preach Christ
crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God... I was with you
in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my
speech and my message were not in plausible words of
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so
that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in
the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18,24; 2:3-5). |
